MAN FALLS 40 FEET AT OLD QUARRY

A young man was seriously injured Wednesday evening when he fell about 40 feet from a cliff into a creek bed near a waterfall at a former rock quarry, a fire official said.

The man, in his 20s, was rescued by firefighters from Oceanside and Carlsbad, who were notified about the accident about 7 p.m. They hiked in about a quarter-mile to reach the victim in an area of dense vegetation.

Due to the steep terrain, a San Diego Fire-Rescue Department helicopter crew was dispatched to airlift the man from the creek bed, said Oceanside fire Battalion Chief Bill Kogerman.

Kogerman said the injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. The man was flown by the helicopter crew to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.

He had been hiking with two friends at the former quarry, part of which is now a construction site behind Quarry Creek Shopping Center on Marron Road on the Oceanside-Carlsbad border.

The friends used a cellphone to call 911 and then hiked to a Kohl’s parking lot to meet firefighters and direct them to their friend.

The 104-acre site was used for granite mining until 1995, and part of it is now being graded.

The El Salto Falls waterfall and Buena Vista Creek run through the former quarry, south of state Route 78 and west of College Boulevard.